Lakehead University Quebec Politics
POLI-3331-FA Fall 2014
Instructor: Normand Perreault (Department of Political Science) Classroom: RB 3044 Class time: Monday and Wednesday 5:30 – 7:00 Office: RB 2035 Email: [email protected] Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 14:30 – 15:00, or by appointment
Course description: This course provides a broad survey of Quebec society and politics. During the course of the semester, we will examine a number of key historical moments and important political issues that have defined the politics of Quebec, and have had a profound impact on the politics of Canada. We will begin by addressing the question of agency in Quebec politics. How do communities come to see themselves as the active subject of their own political actions? How are historical narratives constructed and to what effect? How do those historical narratives evolve in reaction to encounters with ‘others’ and in reaction to new events and new historical interpretations? This line of questioning will allow us to examine how Quebec identity has taken form, over a period of 400 years, and how it has dealt with changing circumstances. In the next portion of the course, we will explore the Canadian constitutional debate as it is perceived within Quebec society, and we will examine how this debate has shaped and reshaped the Canadian political landscape. We will then examine the processes of state- building and institution-building, and some the issues related to linguistic politics, immigration, modernization and globalization.
Evaluation: The evaluation will consist of three (3) short essay papers, each 1,500 words maximum, and each worth 20% of the total grade. - The first short paper is due in class on October 1st - The second short paper is due in class on November 12th - The third short paper is due in class on December 1st There will also be one (1) longer midterm research paper (4,000 words maximum) worth 40% of the total grade. - This longer research paper is due in class on November 3rd Late assignments are not accepted.
Grading scale: All components of this course will receive numerical grades. Your course average will then be converted to a final letter grade according to the following Grade Conversion Scale:
Numerical Course Grade Average (Range)
A+ 90-100
A 85-89
A- 80-84
B+ 77-79
B 73-76
B- 70-72
C+ 67-69
C 63-66
C- 60-62
D+ 57-59
D 53-56
D- 50-52
F 49 and below
Required readings:
- Gagnon, Alain, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition. University of Toronto Press, 2004. ISBN-10: 1551115794 ; ISBN-13: 978-1551115795
- Letourneau, Jocelyn. A History for the Future: Rewriting Memory and Identity in Quebec. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004. (Paperback) ISBN-10: 0773527257 ; ISBN-13: 978- 0773527256
- Additional readings will be distributed to the class during the course of the semester.
Outline of weekly lectures and readings
Week 1 (8 and 10 September)
What history is and what it isn’t. A Quebec identity based on a common vision of history.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 11-32. - Jocelyn Letourneau, A History for the Future: Rewriting Memory and Identity in Quebec, pp. xi-xiv, and 3-29.
Week 2 (15 and 17 September)
Narrative and counter-narrative, continuity and discontinuity in Quebec’s historical discourse.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 33-50. - Jocelyn Letourneau, A History for the Future: Rewriting Memory and Identity in Quebec, pp. 30-64.
Week 3 (22 and 24 September)
Modern re-interpretations of history. Quebec within the narrative of Canadian history.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 51-68. - Jocelyn Letourneau, A History for the Future: Rewriting Memory and Identity in Quebec, pp. 65-99.
Week 4 (29 September and 1 October) (The first short paper is due in class on October 1st)
New ‘others’ and forgotten ‘others’: pluralism v. dualism.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 69-124.
Week 5 (6 and 8 October)
Writing a new past in order to make sense of the future. The dialectic of empowerment. A quintessential Canadian story.
- Jocelyn Letourneau, A History for the Future: Rewriting Memory and Identity in Quebec, pp. 100-150.
Week 6 (15 October)
The constitutional debate: part I.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 127-164. - Richard Simeon and Martin Papillon, “Canada”, Forum of Federations, http://www.forumfed.org/libdocs/Global_Dialogue/Book_2/BK2-C04-ca- SimeonPapillon-en.htm - Richard Simeon, “Federalism and Decentralization in Canada”, Forum of Federations, http://www.forumfed.org/libdocs/IntConfDecent02/20031213-ca- RichardSimeon.pdf - Guy Laforest, “Making sense of Canada as a federal system: the relevance of historical legacies (in honour of the late Richard Simeon, 1943- 2013)”. (by permission of the author)
Week 7 (20 and 22 October)
The constitutional debate: part II.
- Guy Laforest, “The Internal Exile of Quebeckers in the Canada of the Charter”, dans James Kelly et Christopher Manfredi (dir.), Contested Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Vancouver, UBC Press, 2009: 251-262. (by permission of the author) - Guy Laforest, “What Canadian Federalism Means in Québec”, Twentieth Annual McDonald Lecture, Review of Constitutional Studies, XV(1), 2010, p. 1-28. (by permission of the author) - Guy Laforest, “Trust and Mistrust between Harper and Québec”, in The Ways of Federalism in Western Countries and the Horizons of Territorial Autonomy in Spain, Berlin: Springer, 2013, pp 341-358. (by permission of the author) - Richard Simeon, “Canada: competition within cooperative federalism”, Forum of Federations, http://www.forumfed.org/libdocs/Global_Dialogue/Booklet_2/BL2-C04- ca-Simeon-en.pdf
Week 8 (27 and 29 October)
State-building and institution-building in Quebec: the challenge of globalization and liberalization.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 165-218, and 271- 286. Week 9 (3 and 5 November) (The midterm research paper is due in class on November 3rd)
Political institutions in Quebec: a uniquely ‘American’ version of democracy?
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 221-269.
Week 10 (10 and 12 November) (The second short paper is due in class on November 12th)
Linguistic politics in Quebec: never in solitude.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 329-388.
Week 11 (17 and 19 November)
Immigration and modernization: democratic renewal.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 287-303, and 307- 328. - Alain Gagnon and Richard Simeon, “Unity and Diversity in Canada: A Preliminary Assessment“, Forum of Federations, http://www.forumfed.org/libdocs/ Global_Dialogue/Booklet_7/BL7-en-ca-gagnon_simeon.pdf
Week 12 (24 and 26 November)
New regional arrangements in a globalizing world: a new East-West dream?
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 391-446.
Week 13 (1 December) (The third short paper is due in class on December 1st)
Struggling to have a voice on the world stage.
- Alain Gagnon, ed. Quebec: state and society, third edition, pp. 447-474.